Articles by Girish Anand

September 9, 2013

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Time Warner, IBM to Move Retirees onto Private Exchanges

Both IBM and Time Warner are transitioning their retirees into private health insurance exchanges, moves announced against the backdrop of the upcoming operation of the Health Insurance Marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Specifically, the two companies are planning to give retirees subsidies and/or options to purchase Medicare supplements on their own. IBM has sign...

September 8, 2013

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OSHA Online Form to Speed, Probably Increase Whistle-Blower Complaints

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which overseas the 22 federal whistle-blower protection laws, recently announced plans to introduce an online form to facilitate the complaint-filing process. Prior to the upcoming online option, employees who felt they had been retaliated against for blowing the whistle at work had two recourses: 1) to phone the agency d...

September 7, 2013

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New Jersey Law Bans 'Salary Secrecy' at Work

New Jersey has enacted legislation banning "salary secrecy" and throwing open all personal information regarding one's own compensation, benefits, duties, job title and most everything else -- provided the person seeking the information is a coworker doing so with the object of investigating details for a possible discrimination complaint or claim. The law, which mimic...

September 6, 2013

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Study Probes Cost Structure of Marketplace Health Plans

In about three weeks, the Obamacare Health Insurance Marketplaces will begin servicing individual and small business customers with promises of "affordable care." Avalere Health has completed a study of the policies being offered nationwide and come up with five observations: Consumers will get to choose from four levels of coverage, representing out-of-pocket expenses. A...

September 5, 2013

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DOL Issues Another FAQ on Implementation of ACA

The Department of Labor (DOL) yesterday published a new set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), dealing primarily with the upcoming Marketplace Notice of Coverage Options and the 2014 implementation of the 90-day-waiting-period limitation for employer-provided health plans. Significantly, the FAQs clarify that Marketplace Notices...

September 4, 2013

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New Jersey Enacts Social Media Privacy Bill

New Jersey has become the 12th state to forbid employers from seeking access to employees' or job applicants' social media login credentials. It also establishes penalties for retaliation based upon an employee's or applicant's refusal to provide such information. Employers are still free, however, to avail themselves of access to the public side of anyone's social med...

September 2, 2013

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Obamacare Marketplaces Must Accept Prepaid Debit Cards

According to its Final Regulations released just before the Labor Day holiday weekend, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is requiring insurance companies participating in the Obamacare Marketplaces to accept prepaid debit cards. Insurers also are being required to accept cashier's checks, money orders, paper checks and bank-account transfers, but not cash since mo...

August 31, 2013

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S.F. Giants Strike Out on Steady Stream of FLSA Fastballs

The Department of Labor (DOL) came out with a blazing arsenal of labor law fastballs against the San Francisco Giants baseball franchise and came away with a winner's share of more than half a million bucks for aggrieved clubhouse employees. After a DOL investigation, the San Francisco Giants baseball team agreed to pay $544,715 in back wages and liquidated damages to 74 employee...

August 31, 2013

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NLRB Issues Employee Rights App for Smartphones

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), stung by various court rejections of its National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) poster detailing employee rights in the workplace, has taken its cause to the world of smartphones, unveiling an app on Labor Day Weekend spelling out employer obligations and employee protections. “The promise of the law can only be fulfilled when employers and em...

August 30, 2013

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Another Obamacare Rule Out the Window on Eve of Marketplaces

A rule in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requiring reporting within one hour of all breaches of protected health information (PHI) during Health Insurance Marketplace activities has been dropped in the final regulations, to be published today in the Federal Register. "Because the one-hour incident response timeline has been included in all the data sharing agreements required under th...

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Girish Anand

Recent Articles

Practical articles on HR, Safety, compliance, and people operations—written for real businesses, not legal textbooks.

U.S. Department of Labor Officially Restores Prior Overtime Exemption Rules

On May 14th, 2026, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced it has officially rescinded the 2024 overtime exemption rules. Specifically, the WHD published a technical amendment to restore previous 2019 regulations that dictated overtime exemptions for...

NLRB General Counsel Takes Action to Tackle Current Case Backlog

On May 6th, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and NLRB General Counsel Crystal Stowe Carey announced the bulk transfer of thousands of labor practice cases. Specifically, this action fulfills an initiative signed by the NLRB General Counsel earlier this year. Overall, the initiative...

Privacy Agency Invites Comments from Businesses on the CCPA’s Usage of Personal Data

Recently, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) issued a call for comments on the current state of personal data collection under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Specifically, the invitation to deliver remarks was issued on April 20th, 2026. The information provided by the...

DOL Proposes New Joint Employer Rule To Unify Standards Under Federal Labor Laws

In April 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule to establish a single, clear standard for determining when joint-employer status applies under three major federal laws: the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Migrant and Seasonal...

DOL Updates Enforcement Approach for Employee Benefit Plans: What Employers Should Know

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced a significant change in its enforcement of employee benefit plan rules. The DOL will now focus more closely on serious violations that harm workers and retirees, meaning compliant employers may face less scrutiny under the updated approach.

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Articles by Girish Anand